New East Bay center provides tools for success

RICHMOND

Mae'zhean Mason smiled as Career Coach Yvonne Mau helped him with his resume. The Richmond, (Calif.) Financial Opportunity Center began operations at Rubicon Programs Tuesday April 26, 2011. Rubicon's mission is to prepare very low-income people to achieve financial independence. less

Mae'zhean Mason smiled as Career Coach Yvonne Mau helped him with his resume. The Richmond, (Calif.) Financial Opportunity Center began operations at Rubicon Programs Tuesday April 26, 2011. Rubicon's mission ... more

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

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Mae'zhean Mason smiled as Career Coach Yvonne Mau helped him with his resume. The Richmond, (Calif.) Financial Opportunity Center began operations at Rubicon Programs Tuesday April 26, 2011. Rubicon's mission is to prepare very low-income people to achieve financial independence. less

Mae'zhean Mason smiled as Career Coach Yvonne Mau helped him with his resume. The Richmond, (Calif.) Financial Opportunity Center began operations at Rubicon Programs Tuesday April 26, 2011. Rubicon's mission ... more

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

New East Bay center provides tools for success

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David Dickens has been out of prison about a year, and he knows the wary look on a potential employer's face like he knows his own name.

But he wants a job. He wants to prove he's moved beyond the crack dealing that got him convicted and sent to San Quentin - beyond the bad choices that led him down that criminal road from which some never return.

A new program that is the first of its kind in Northern California has just given the 34-year-old Richmond man hope that he can reach those goals.

Counselors are helping Dickens and his fellow enrollees figure out how to overcome the crash-and-burn crises in their lives, from homelessness and poor education to prison records, in a way that can propel them into a successful career and independence from parole officers and soup kitchens.

Long-term help

The difference between this and other programs is that the center will track and help clients steadily for as long as three years. Most job programs can afford to give only episodic aid, and can't stretch that help out beyond a year.

Rubicon Programs, a nonprofit that has been helping Bay Area low-income people with job, mental and other counseling for 38 years, was picked for funding by the nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corp. because it had experts in place who could get the program rolling fast, organizers said.

Fifteen people were already enrolled when Richmond and Contra Costa County officials dedicated the center in downtown Richmond on Tuesday, and managers expect to serve 120 people from throughout West Contra Costa by the end of the first year.

"I was one of those kids that just never outgrew the mind-set of drug dealing until I finally grew up enough to understand what is right," Dickens said as he scrolled through job-hunting sites on a computer at the new center.

"Some people might just give up with a record like mine," he said, "but here at Rubicon they are showing me how I can use all of my experience to get a job - even the experience I got in prison."

Dickens, a tall, muscular man whose gentle smile and manner belie his former bad-boy days, was so impatient to get going on his new program that he started working with counselors several days before opening day.

Spiffing up resume

His resume, newly rewritten with the help of the center, reflects a man who has worked as a security guard, but who also learned butcher-shop skills, landscaping, painting and cleaning with chemicals while behind bars.

It lists bosses' references to back it up, and if need be, he can become "bonded" - insured for as much as $30,000 - with the help of the center's counselors to guarantee people that if his employment causes them damage, they can claim compensation.

The bonding option, the references and the training he receives on how to be frank and optimistic in job interviews are all designed to put employers at ease with the idea of giving a person like Dickens a second chance.

"People tell me I'm motivated," he said. "I'd say that is an understatement. I am determined to move forward, stay clean, and be a positive influence for not just my family but everyone around me."

Going national

The center is funded for three years with a $140,000 annual grant from Local Initiatives, which is matched by another $140,000 a year put together through Rubicon's donors.

Stephanie Forbes, executive director of Local Initiatives, said 47 such centers will be created around the country in the coming months, including one in San Jose and one in Oakland, under a grants program initiated by the Obama administration through the Corporation for National and Community Service. The corporation is a federal agency that oversees service initiatives including AmeriCorps.

For some, the needs will be as simple as figuring out how to get checking accounts so they won't have to pay high fees at check-cashing outlets. For others, it will be plotting out a budget to help them make rent or climb out of foreclosure. Still others need help on finding job-search sites and in writing cover letters and resumes.

"We deal with people who have some real chaos in their lives," said Jane Fischberg, executive director of Rubicon. "This gives them a real opportunity for self-sufficiency."